Today Google has revealed more info on its new standalone Android platform for cars. Unlike Android Auto, which just casts info from your phone onto whatever software your vehicle maker has tossed together, the new system is based on Android and brings some of the same tools Android Auto had natively. Google revealed this initiative at last year's I/O, but there hasn't been much news apart from Chrysler's concept back at CES. Both Audi and Volvo will be making use of the new systems in future vehicles.

As the race to build the first commercially viable self-driving car hots up, a number of major players in the technology and automotive industries continue to position themselves, hoping to grab a slice of the potentially lucrative pie. This has led to a number of high-profile alliances being formed. Alphabet has its own arm dedicated to the technology in Waymo, which was spun off from Google late last year, and it has been keen to form useful partnerships where it can. The latest test vehicle is a minivan built by Chrysler, for instance. Now Waymo has a new ally in the form of ride-hailing start-up Lyft.

We already covered the flagship feature of Allo - the ability to create a personalized sticker pack from selfies. But Allo 11 has a few other minor features worth mentioning, like improvements to group chats and future support for sending messages with Google Now or Assistant. Let's take a look.

It's been a couple of months since the Pixel and Pixel XL debuted, but it's still rare to come across a deal for them, especially on the XL model. In fact, we've posted a total of zero Deal Alerts on the non-Verizon Pixel XL. However, Google itself has decided to offer a free official case to anyone who purchases the Pixel XL from the Google Store.

Anyone who might be considering a 2017 Audi A3 on the basis of it using Android Auto might want to reexamine their options. Apparently a large number of the cars are having difficulties with the compass in Android Auto being rotated 180 degrees while the phone is connected, which interferes with navigational operations. Navigation does function correctly when a phone is not connected, though.

Easily the most annoying aspect of using an Android phone (with the exception of Pixel/Nexus) is slow updates. Android 7.1 (which came out last year) currently sits at 0.5% marketshare, and brand new phones are still being released with 6.0 Marshmallow. Google is aiming to solve this with "Project Treble," which will modularize part of the Android OS to decrease the time OEMs spend updating their devices.

While pawking around in the latest Google Phone 9.0, our resident APK master, Cody, uncovered one unexpected piece of evidence: paws. The animal kind. Cat and dog paws had infiltrated the installation file for seemingly no reason. This of course gave him pawse as he examined all the weird ways in which they could be used then came up empty. But we wouldn't be the Android Pawlice if we didn't have secret informants ready to do the dirty work on the ground and come back with hints and sometimes answers to our investigations. And this is what we're here to talk about: the paw mystery has been solved.

Android Pay is continuing its expansion in the US by reaching more and more banks and credit unions. At this point, most of the major players are on board, so most of what we keep seeing with each addition are small to medium regional institutions that are joining the fold.

Selfies are a bit of a pandemic these days; it's almost impossible to get through a day without seeing at least a few on social media. In keeping with that theme, along with Allo's obsession with sticker packs, the 'smart messaging app' can now create personalized sticker packs from just a selfie. We first spotted this in a teardown back in January, but it's finally live.

The Google Contacts application really hasn't changed much over the years - after all, it just has to store contacts. Last year the app was updated with a hamburger menu and the ability to merge duplicates. Now Google has released version 2.0 of the Contacts app, with more design improvements and changes to how contacts are sorted.